Recently Rob left a comment on the site repeating a thing that’s been said by many people over the years – that the Mets traded Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver, Jon Matlack and Jerry Koosman and the only player of note that they received in return was Jesse Orosco. For a brief time it looked like [...]
It is always interesting and exciting to hear about the best fielders. Rarely do we get a good look at the terribly bad fielders. Derek Jeter is always mentioned as a terrible fielder and having the worst negative performance of any fielder. This has some bias toward the good hitters, like Jeter. In looking at [...]
The very first Mets season, 1962, was a dreadful one. That team, which lost 120 games, is sometimes cited as the worst team ever in modern baseball history. But there is a case to be made for a different team to be the worst, specifically the 1945 Philadelphia NL franchise, which actually used the nickname [...]
There are three main ways to improve your team. You can draft amateurs; you can trade for players and you can sign free agents. The Mets of the late 70s were terrible because they weren’t good in any of these three areas. The farm system that once cranked out players slowed to a trickle once [...]
In 1958, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants made their debuts in California, leaving behind a gaping hole in the hearts and mind of baseball fans in New York City. This massive wound that was left in their perspective fanbases lead to a new baseball franchise coming into existence in 1962, the [...]
Recently there was some chatter about who the best Met defensive players have been. Marv Throneberry or Keith Hernandez – Bud Harrelson or Rey Ordonez, and so on. Anecdotally, there are a couple of Mets with tremendous defensive reputations, and Gold Gloves, but were they deserving, given what we have learned from advanced metrics? Let [...]
Everyone knows that the Mets have made some awful trades in their tenure. What’s surprising is that one that certainly should have been awful turned out slightly positive for them. In early November of 1972, the Mets sent Danny Frisella and Gary Gentry, two 26 year olds, to the Braves for Felix Millan and George [...]
Steve Trachsel allowed 348 home runs in his 16-year career in Major League Baseball. But the one he allowed to Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals on September 8, 1998 cemented his spot as a footnote in baseball history. The right-hander served Big Mac an 88 MPH fastball and with a quick, short stroke [...]
This year is the 50th anniversary of the 1970 Mets team. Although not as celebrated as its predecessor, the World Series winner of 1969, the ‘70 club was interesting in its own right. With a few breaks, it might have been playing meaningful ball in October. The defending champs were in contention for most of [...]
The 1962 Mets were one of the worst teams in the history of professional Baseball. They won 40 games and lost 120, while producing enough ineptitude to fill multiple volumes of literature over the years. The reasons for these foibles are many. One was the expansion draft itself. It was held only seven days after [...]
After using the Baseball-Reference Play Index tool last week to look at the batters who did the best against the Mets, now it’s time to see which opposing pitchers did the best. We’re going to have a minimum of 100 IP against the Mets to qualify for these lists. We’ll list the top 10 pitchers [...]
As the likelihood of actual games being played for the 2020 season diminishes daily, it’s natural to think about past games and players. Working from my home office surrounded by memorabilia and the fact that MLB network television is playing game repeats from the past added to this reflectivity, and especially who my favorite Mets [...]